6 police officers shot while serving warrant in Utah, 1 dies
By
Lateef Mungin, CNN
Updated 8:28 AM EST, Thu January 5, 2012
Ogden, Utah, police officers were shot while trying to serve a search warrant.
(CNN) -- Six police officers were shot and one was killed while serving a search warrant in Ogden, Utah, police said.
All six were rushed to hospitals after the shooting, said Ogden Assistant Police Chief Marcy Korgenski. The suspect in the case also was wounded and taken to a hospital. Ogden city officer Jared Francom died from his wounds, Ogden police said early Thursday.
"Agent Francom has served the citizens of Ogden city with honor for seven years," authorities said in a statement Thursday. "He is survived by his wife and two young children."
The remaining five officers remained hospitalized with injuries ranging from serious to critical, police said. The suspect sustained injuries not considered life-threatening.
The officers, who were part of a narcotics task force, were attempting to serve a search warrant at an Ogden address Wednesday night, according to the statement.
Ogden is about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City in northern Utah. Clayton Payne, a resident of the neighborhood where the shootings took place, told CNN affiliate KSL, "I was sitting in the front room watching TV, heard three pops. My fiance asked if they were fireworks. I said, 'No, those are gunshots.'"
He said he ran outside after hearing what sounded like an AK-47. "I ran out here to see what was going on and I was escorted back to my house by the cops," he said. "They said, 'Get in your house. Get down.'"
The shootings follow a year in which U.S. cities saw an increase in officers killed. The number of officers who died in the line of duty in 2011 increased 16% nationwide from last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Last year, 177 officers were killed, compared to 153 in 2010, the organization said.